Speaker 1: Welcome to the Rise and Conquer Podcasts. This podcast is
Speaker 1: for women who want to take ownership of their lives,
Speaker 1: live unapologetically, and are ready to turn their biggest dreams
Speaker 1: into their reality. If you're ready to be armed with
Speaker 1: the tools that will inspire to take bold action, feel
Speaker 1: confident within yourself, and conquer your goals, then you've come
Speaker 1: to the right place. I'm your host, Georgie Stevenson. I'm
Speaker 1: a lawyer turned entrepreneur, co founder of Naked Harvest Supplements,
Speaker 1: and social media personality with a community of over three
Speaker 1: hundred thousand. I grew up believing I had to pursue
Speaker 1: the safe option and fit into a mold others had
Speaker 1: created for me. But then I entered my corporate law
Speaker 1: job and I realized that settling for a reality that
Speaker 1: didn't set my soul on fire was something I.
Speaker 2: Was not prepared to do.
Speaker 1: I want to more, and I have a feeling you
Speaker 1: do too. Join me and special guests weekly as we
Speaker 1: get down to the nitty gritty on all things health,
Speaker 1: mastering your mindset, creating lasting habits, thriving in your career
Speaker 1: and relationships, plus so much more, and together we'll gain
Speaker 1: the knowledge and perspective to pursue our wildest dreams and
Speaker 1: kick fear to the curb. Well, what are you waiting for?
Speaker 1: Let's rise and conquer. Hey guys, welcome back to the
Speaker 1: Rise and Conquer podcast. Today's guest is Jessica Quinn. At
Speaker 1: the age of nine, Jess was confronted with a diagnosis
Speaker 1: of bone cancer and as a result, she lost her
Speaker 1: hair and one of her legs. Jess showed cancer whose
Speaker 1: boss in two thousand and one and now it is
Speaker 1: a champion of body diversity and cannot be stopped. Rather
Speaker 1: than not let this hold her back, she shifted her
Speaker 1: focus and instead tuned into everything she could do instead
Speaker 1: of what she couldn't and let me tell you, she
Speaker 1: smashed some pretty epic goals. Jess, as a model an
Speaker 1: advocate changing how women see themselves, am proving that beauty
Speaker 1: comes in so many different forms. This incredible, resilient and
Speaker 1: determined woman is a shining example of how our biggest
Speaker 1: challenges can help us find.
Speaker 2: Our true purpose.
Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed this chat as much as I did.
Speaker 1: Prepared to be inspired. Hey, Jess, thank you so much
Speaker 1: for making the time to chat to us. I know
Speaker 1: you are a busy baby, but I am so excited
Speaker 1: to have you on here. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: I'm very excited, of course, of course. So we're going
Speaker 1: to get into some really cool stuff. But firstly, something
Speaker 1: I want to ask you is what season are you
Speaker 1: currently in? And so the reason why I want to
Speaker 1: ask this is seasons is this concept that I talk
Speaker 1: about a lot of my own social and it's kind
Speaker 1: of like, you know, are you busy or are you
Speaker 1: going through a slow season? And I just like to
Speaker 1: talk about this because I think sometimes when you're in it,
Speaker 1: it can feel very like there's no way out, or
Speaker 1: you're always going to be busy or you're always going
Speaker 1: to be slow. So I just like to talk about
Speaker 1: it because I think it's a good reminder that we're
Speaker 1: constantly changing and evolving. So tell us, Jess, what season
Speaker 1: are you currently in?
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's actually funny that you asked that, because it's
Speaker 3: something I also talk about a lot, and it's something
Speaker 3: that's helped me lately. And a girlfriend said it to
Speaker 3: me once. She was like, don't worry, it's just a season,
Speaker 3: and it's kind of stuck with me and reassured me
Speaker 3: along my kind of journey of ups and downs. So
Speaker 3: at the moment, I'm in a season of healing. It
Speaker 3: looks different every day, but it's helped me to recognize
Speaker 3: that I am in a state of healing right now,
Speaker 3: so I have to take the good with the bad.
Speaker 3: I've been dealing with a bit of of injuries in
Speaker 3: and around the stuff that I deal with every day,
Speaker 3: which I'm sure we're going to get into in a
Speaker 3: little bit. But yeah, so I unfortunately it's been a
Speaker 3: year and a half long season, so it's late living
Speaker 3: through a really long winter that you're hoping will end soon,
Speaker 3: but knowing it's just a season. And when I look
Speaker 3: back on my life, I've had multiple seasons like this,
Speaker 3: and I know that they've all ended and there's been
Speaker 3: a beautiful summer at the end of all of those seasons.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I'm the same as you. I like to
Speaker 3: look at it in that light. But yeah, season of healing.
Speaker 2: I love that. I know.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry going through a hard season too, but I
Speaker 1: love what you said about knowing that there's a summer
Speaker 1: season coming. It's beautiful. So let's get into the interview.
Speaker 1: And I've obviously done a bit of an intro but
Speaker 1: I love when my guests explain who they are themselves.
Speaker 1: So do you want to give the listeners just a
Speaker 1: bit of a snapshot of who you are and what
Speaker 1: it's like in the day of life of Jass?
Speaker 3: My day of life is always very different. I kind
Speaker 3: of sometimes wish I had a routine, but I definitely don't.
Speaker 3: I live in New Zealand. At the moment, I've grown
Speaker 3: up my whole life in New Zealand. I am currently,
Speaker 3: as of the last two months, living between New Zealand
Speaker 3: and Los Angeles. I got signed to a modeling agency
Speaker 3: about probably a year and a half ago, and they're
Speaker 3: based in LA. Took me a while to get a
Speaker 3: visa that I eventually got that so I decided to
Speaker 3: make the transition to giving life a go up there,
Speaker 3: but kind of realized that I still have a lot
Speaker 3: of work and a lot of commitment that I love
Speaker 3: in New Zealand, So I kind of live between New
Speaker 3: Zealand and LA at the moment. I'm currently in a
Speaker 3: state of extending my flight and my trip home by
Speaker 3: the week, which is quite funny. So I'm in a
Speaker 3: bit of a limbo. But in terms of my work,
Speaker 3: I work obviously as a model, I do a lot
Speaker 3: of social media stuff that all kind of blew up
Speaker 3: for me about three years ago, very unexpectedly, just I
Speaker 3: did a photo shoot that ended up going viral and
Speaker 3: found me with a following and having to learn how
Speaker 3: to navigate the world of social media that I knew
Speaker 3: nothing about. I do public speaking. I do a mixture
Speaker 3: of other projects that I'm working on that I'm sure
Speaker 3: we'll also get into a bit later. But most of
Speaker 3: my life is in and around helping people understand that
Speaker 3: different is okay, that we're all different, and that I
Speaker 3: think the one thing we all have in common as
Speaker 3: humans is that we are different. Yet we've lived in
Speaker 3: a society that projects perfection, especially I believe, for women.
Speaker 3: So that's something I'm trying to break down at the moment.
Speaker 3: I lost my leg to cancer as a kid, so
Speaker 3: I grew up feeling very different from anyone I knew,
Speaker 3: from anyone I saw in the media. So I wanted to,
Speaker 3: I guess, spend my life trying to fight that change,
Speaker 3: because as they got older, I realized that even my
Speaker 3: friends or people I knew who had two legs grew
Speaker 3: up feeling different in some way. Because of what they
Speaker 3: would have gone through. So I realized that it's really
Speaker 3: normal and in our experiences in and around that just different.
Speaker 3: So yeah, it's become my life mission to normalize diversity,
Speaker 3: and yeah, to help people understand that different it's okay.
Speaker 3: And also, I guess help others through their journey through adversity,
Speaker 3: because we all face adversity in our life, whether it's
Speaker 3: the loss of the job that we really wanted, or
Speaker 3: it's losing our leg to cancer. You know, there's the
Speaker 3: spectrums massive and we all face this unexpected adversity at
Speaker 3: different times, and it's learning how to, I guess, grow
Speaker 3: through it and live through it and see it as
Speaker 3: an opportunity to grow opposed to kind of a roadblock
Speaker 3: in life. So yeah, that's kind of a really long
Speaker 3: winded answer to what I do. But unfortunately I don't
Speaker 3: have the simple I'm in marketing kind of answer. I
Speaker 3: kind of wish I did.
Speaker 1: No, I loved it, and that was perfect. You are
Speaker 1: doing some epic things on social media and definitely one
Speaker 1: of my favorite accounts to follow.
Speaker 3: I had a moment recently. I think it was when
Speaker 3: I was asked to go on the podcast and I
Speaker 3: went onto Instagram and I didn't even realize that you
Speaker 3: followed me because I followed your YouTube for a really
Speaker 3: long time. And I was like, oh, wow, this is
Speaker 3: so cool.
Speaker 1: Is funny, that's.
Speaker 3: So funny how the world connects. I know.
Speaker 2: I love that.
Speaker 1: Well, let's go, let's go to the start. And so
Speaker 1: you were diagnosed with bone cancer and lost your leg
Speaker 1: at age nine, which is such a young age to
Speaker 1: go through something like that. Can you tell us what
Speaker 1: it was like as a child pre cancer.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I had an awesome childhood pre cancer. I was
Speaker 3: a very very active kid. I competed or participated in
Speaker 3: pretty much every sport I could get my hands on.
Speaker 3: I was born in a time before social media. Obviously
Speaker 3: we had TV and stuff. I'm not that old, but
Speaker 3: you know, it wasn't for me. I was such an
Speaker 3: outdoorsy kid, so I remember just being outdoors all the time. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I was kind of I just love life. I have
Speaker 3: two sisters. I'm in the middle of both of them,
Speaker 3: so we grew up, you know, playing teachers, playing mothers
Speaker 3: and fathers and bossing us, bossing each other around, and yeah,
Speaker 3: I had amazing family life. I'm still really grateful that
Speaker 3: I still have an amazing family life. So yeah, life
Speaker 3: for me was pretty I guess you could say normal.
Speaker 3: I grew up in New Zealand, which I feel like
Speaker 3: the luckiest person in the world to grow up in
Speaker 3: a country that's beautiful and the safe, so I'm very
Speaker 3: grateful for that. And then, yeah, life took a massive,
Speaker 3: unexpected turn in the matter of a moment.
Speaker 1: Really yeah, so tell us about that moment. So when
Speaker 1: the doctors said to you they had to amputate your leg,
Speaker 1: what was going through your head? I know you were
Speaker 1: so young, or can you remember kind of how your
Speaker 1: parents or sisters were acting.
Speaker 3: Yeah, a lot of it. My memory kind of comes
Speaker 3: in and out, abe because I was so young. I
Speaker 3: think it was nearly I think eighteen years ago, and
Speaker 3: I mean most of us don't fully remember our life
Speaker 3: back then. And I think also trauma's kind of blocked
Speaker 3: it out of my brain a little bit. And it
Speaker 3: was also a progressive process, so I or a progressive discovery.
Speaker 3: I stood on a soccer ball, just trying to show
Speaker 3: off that I could balance on a soccer ball without
Speaker 3: holding onto anything, and I plummeted to the floor and
Speaker 3: fractured my femur bone. Which is supposed to be the
Speaker 3: strongest bone in your body, and mine snapped doing something
Speaker 3: pretty routinely simple. But the doctors didn't discover the cancer
Speaker 3: for about four months. So I was stuck in a
Speaker 3: wheelchair and plaster trying to heal a broken leg, and
Speaker 3: I just wanted to get back to life and like
Speaker 3: run around with my friends. And I was like, oh,
Speaker 3: this broken leg sull annoying, you know, And then it
Speaker 3: just wouldn't go away in terms of I went into
Speaker 3: rehab to try heal, and I was in so much pain.
Speaker 3: And then I think kind of red flag started to
Speaker 3: arise when they realized that my break was quite weird
Speaker 3: in the first place, and then the fact that I
Speaker 3: was still in pain. So they started to investigate, and
Speaker 3: they found in osteosarcoma, which is a form of bomb
Speaker 3: cancer that was living in my femur bone. We don't
Speaker 3: know for how long, but that's what had I guess
Speaker 3: caused my bond to break in such a kind of
Speaker 3: simple way. So yeah, then I did nine months of chemotherapy,
Speaker 3: so I lost my hair. On the day of my surgery.
Speaker 3: I waited about eighteen kilos so I had a feeding
Speaker 3: tube in my nose because I just couldn't stomach food,
Speaker 3: and when I could stomach food, I couldn't keep it down,
Speaker 3: and you know all the other symptoms of chemotherapy, like
Speaker 3: my mouth was covered in ulcers, which also stopped me eating.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I lost a lot of weight, I lost
Speaker 3: my hair. I looked like it could going through cancer basically,
Speaker 3: and yeah, life changed very quickly. And then they told
Speaker 3: me that they would have to antutate my leg. It
Speaker 3: was the only way to save my life. The chemo
Speaker 3: hadn't really shrunk it like like we had hoped, so
Speaker 3: it was all quite obviously scary and strange, and even
Speaker 3: more scary because the amputation that I had was I
Speaker 3: was one of the first in New Zealand to have
Speaker 3: that surgery. It was a fourteen hour surgery. It's called
Speaker 3: a rotation plasty. I won't explain it because it's really
Speaker 3: hard to wrap your head around, but if you're interested,
Speaker 3: I highly recommend googling because your mind will be blowing
Speaker 3: how that works. But yeah, I had the surgery. I
Speaker 3: remember being really scared being wailed into the theater about
Speaker 3: to have my leg amputated. But I think also in hindsight,
Speaker 3: I don't think I rarely knew what was going on completely.
Speaker 3: You know, you know the facts, you know you're about
Speaker 3: to lose your leg, but when you're nine, you know
Speaker 3: a year is a really long time. Therefore, you don't
Speaker 3: know the implications of what you're going through is going
Speaker 3: to have on your future. So that didn't really hit
Speaker 3: me until I was probably an intermediate, so kind of
Speaker 3: early teens. But yeah, obviously I was scared and all
Speaker 3: of that. But I'm also forever grateful that I went
Speaker 3: through what I did at the age that I did,
Speaker 3: because A I had the resilience to just get back
Speaker 3: up and get on with life, and I didn't overthink things.
Speaker 3: I was just like, I've got one league, now let's
Speaker 3: learn how to use it. Whereas, had it happened to
Speaker 3: me at kind of the age i'm at now or
Speaker 3: in my late teens, I think it would have been
Speaker 3: a lot harder because you kind of know too much,
Speaker 3: and as an adult or a young team, we kind
Speaker 3: of or a late team, we have kind of there
Speaker 3: instilled in us, whereas I don't believe we have that
Speaker 3: as kids. So it really helped me kind of just
Speaker 3: get up and get on with life.
Speaker 1: Really so, like you said, he didn't really grasp because
Speaker 1: you were so young. When did it start getting quite
Speaker 1: difficult for you in regards to accepting that you did
Speaker 1: have this surgery. And where did it start, I guess
Speaker 1: feeling more real to you.
Speaker 3: It was kind of in my early teens. I think
Speaker 3: I'd say I was around thirteen ish, so that would
Speaker 3: have been three or four years after everything had gone down.
Speaker 3: I think a I started to realize really what I'd
Speaker 3: been through. I started to realize, as I mentioned, kind
Speaker 3: of the implications that that was going to have on
Speaker 3: my future. I remember having a really morbid thought. I
Speaker 3: got into a really dark place and I remember thinking, like, wow,
Speaker 3: I'm literally going to die one day and I'm still
Speaker 3: going to have one leg, you know, like it just
Speaker 3: that's so morbid. But it just really hit me how
Speaker 3: this was permanent. You know, this is forever, and if
Speaker 3: I have children one day, I'm going to have to
Speaker 3: explain it to them, and like, you know, all of
Speaker 3: that kind of stuff. I just saw it. I saw
Speaker 3: the bigger picture and all of this. I didn't just
Speaker 3: see it then what I was going through at the
Speaker 3: time anymore. And it all I guess my struggles with
Speaker 3: it all started from a place of body image. So
Speaker 3: I was thirteen, my my girlfriends at school were starting
Speaker 3: to wear mini skirts and starting to flirt with boys
Speaker 3: and all of this kind of stuff, and I, especially
Speaker 3: because of the nature of the surgery I had, it
Speaker 3: was hugely unusual looking. Therefore, I didn't wear shorts for
Speaker 3: the first kind of eight years and what I like
Speaker 3: to call me new life. So I didn't wear shorts
Speaker 3: until I was kind of just leaving high school, which
Speaker 3: is crazy to think about now, given I live in
Speaker 3: shorts all day long, and it's actually I hate wearing jeans.
Speaker 3: They're very annoying, but you know, it's just kind of
Speaker 3: become a normality. But I went through this phase where
Speaker 3: I just wanted to kind of hide away, and I
Speaker 3: was super confident during the day, and a lot of people,
Speaker 3: even my parents, didn't even really notice how much I
Speaker 3: was struggling. But it was something I was really internalizing,
Speaker 3: and I'd let it out at night, and I'd get
Speaker 3: really upset when i'd go to bed, and I kept
Speaker 3: asking myself, you know, why me, Why did I have
Speaker 3: to go through this, And why can't my life just
Speaker 3: be simple and easy and then, yeah, I took about
Speaker 3: probably a good two to three years before I came
Speaker 3: out the other end. And I remember saying to myself
Speaker 3: one night, I was like, cancer has taken so much
Speaker 3: from me already, I can't let it take my happiness.
Speaker 3: And I knew that I think I needed to go
Speaker 3: through that process of grief, I guess, and I had
Speaker 3: to just get on with life because i'd already, you know,
Speaker 3: nearly lost it. I was grateful to have the lack
Speaker 3: that I had, so I needed to find a way
Speaker 3: to make the most of it because my situation wasn't changing.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I kind of faked a smile and got
Speaker 3: on with it, which sounds kind of weird, but I
Speaker 3: just thought I should try on being confident. I just
Speaker 3: started to become more comfortable in my own skin, even
Speaker 3: if I didn't truly feel it. And then one day
Speaker 3: it wasn't until later on I realized once I was
Speaker 3: an other interview actually, and I realized that I told
Speaker 3: the lady, I was like, I wouldn't change what I
Speaker 3: went through even if I had the choice. And that's
Speaker 3: when I realized that that confidence had really kind of stuck.
Speaker 1: I love that, and I let's get more into your
Speaker 1: self love journey, because I know that you did a
Speaker 1: Ted talk and I've watched it and I loved it.
Speaker 1: If you guys want to check it out, it's called
Speaker 1: why are You Chasing an unachievable idea of Perfection? I'll
Speaker 1: actually put a link in the show notes too, And
Speaker 1: in it you mentioned how you like you were just
Speaker 1: saying before like you battled cancer, it was so hard,
Speaker 1: and losing your life was hard, but then the hardest
Speaker 1: thing for you was putting on a pair of shorts.
Speaker 1: And I hope this is right. You said you didn't
Speaker 1: wear shorts for eight years, and then when you look
Speaker 1: back on high school, you had a lot of issues
Speaker 1: like body image issues in comparison issues, and I know
Speaker 1: that's very prevalent in young girls, but I couldn't imagine
Speaker 1: too how you felt. So let's get into that more.
Speaker 1: And I know that you just said that it did
Speaker 1: sort of come a time when you were like, look,
Speaker 1: I can't let cancer take any more from me. Can
Speaker 1: you kind of tell us a little bit more about
Speaker 1: that and your experience with those issues and how you
Speaker 1: did sort of cope with them.
Speaker 3: It was definitely just a process I had to go
Speaker 3: through I think, and it wasn't. There was kind of
Speaker 3: just step by step I kind of things got better.
Speaker 3: I also got stuck in a state of I guess,
Speaker 3: almost pressure, and I just got so down and out
Speaker 3: about it that I almost couldn't get myself out. And
Speaker 3: then eventually I kind of saw the light as I
Speaker 3: was explaining earlier, and I was just able to know
Speaker 3: that there was more to life than being miserable, and
Speaker 3: that I was the only person that was going to
Speaker 3: be able to make myself happy. So I one day
Speaker 3: I wasn't planning on wearing shorts and a lot of
Speaker 3: the stuff I've thought about in recent times, I didn't
Speaker 3: even know I was doing it at the time, you know.
Speaker 3: Like I would go to a party, whether it was
Speaker 3: a family gathering with extended friends, or it was a
Speaker 3: social gathering with my girlfriends or whatever, a party that
Speaker 3: would go to as a team. But I found myself
Speaker 3: if I was having a conversation with someone knew I
Speaker 3: was slightly hiding behind a piece of furniture, like I
Speaker 3: would almost have my prosthetic like slightly to the side,
Speaker 3: so they wouldn't ask questions and they wouldn't see it,
Speaker 3: and I think that was even though I was happy
Speaker 3: to talk about it, it was a way of me
Speaker 3: just trying to let it go and trying to forget
Speaker 3: about it. And also just people do not notice. I.
Speaker 3: The nature of my surgery left my legs super, super skinny,
Speaker 3: and I started to grow. Obviously, I was turning into
Speaker 3: a woman. And I would wake up every day and
Speaker 3: I would wrap socks around my leg I would wrap
Speaker 3: t shirts and then I would put sports bandages off
Speaker 3: the top and then masking tape just to make it
Speaker 3: look like I had a thigh so I could wear
Speaker 3: skinny jeans. And I would do that every single day.
Speaker 3: And then I was lucky that I got a prosthetic
Speaker 3: to kind of make that process a lot easier. But
Speaker 3: even through that process, I realized, you know, I can't
Speaker 3: live like this. I can't just you know, keep trying
Speaker 3: to make my body look like Then word normal was
Speaker 3: always in my head, and I was like, what is
Speaker 3: this normal that I'm trying to reach, you know? And
Speaker 3: then one day I was at a girlfriend's house. There
Speaker 3: was a group of us really growth close friends, and
Speaker 3: it was a super hot summer's day and they were like, Jess,
Speaker 3: you want to borrow a pair of shorts, like GE's
Speaker 3: so hot out. We were just sitting up on the
Speaker 3: grass catching up and I was like, okay, yeah whatever.
Speaker 3: You know, it was really daunting for me, but I thought,
Speaker 3: you know, it's just my girlfriends, why not. So I
Speaker 3: put on a pair of shorts and they kind of
Speaker 3: thought nothing of it. But I just felt this massive
Speaker 3: relief and I felt so good about myself. I felt
Speaker 3: like I didn't even care anymore that people would look
Speaker 3: I just, you know, I realized that I was the
Speaker 3: one that had been holding myself back. So from that
Speaker 3: point forward, I kind of I just let it go.
Speaker 3: I just started wearing shorts and people would stare at me,
Speaker 3: as they still do every single day, but it doesn't
Speaker 3: affect me anymore because I know people are just interested,
Speaker 3: they're not malicious, and at the end of the day,
Speaker 3: this is the body that I live in. And something
Speaker 3: else that really really helped me, which has been in
Speaker 3: a more recent time since I've been signed as a model.
Speaker 3: But I first flew up to LA with my modeling
Speaker 3: agency about maybe two or three years ago, probably two
Speaker 3: years ago, and my modeling agent, she said they work
Speaker 3: with a lot of models who are diverse and they
Speaker 3: work with plus those models or people who are different
Speaker 3: and kind of I guess, different from the mainstream models
Speaker 3: that we've been used to. And she decided to put
Speaker 3: a group of us together and I didn't actually know,
Speaker 3: but we all were told to wear denim shorts and
Speaker 3: a white T shirt and turn up to the photo show.
Speaker 3: And all of the girls that were at that photo shirt,
Speaker 3: she told me later, for some reason, had grown up
Speaker 3: not wanting to wear shorts, and to that day, some
Speaker 3: of them, that was their first day they'd put on
Speaker 3: a pair of dinnim shorts because they didn't like the
Speaker 3: size of their legs, or they had a scar on
Speaker 3: their leg or whatever it was. And that was the
Speaker 3: most incredible thing for me to realize that I was
Speaker 3: kind of united with these people who had all had
Speaker 3: the same experience as me, but for different reasons. And
Speaker 3: it made me, I guess, it just hit me in
Speaker 3: the face, being like, you know, we all have insecurities,
Speaker 3: we all feel different in some way for different reasons,
Speaker 3: and that was really cool to just feel I guess
Speaker 3: that I wasn't alone in that.
Speaker 1: I love what you said too about you realized that
Speaker 1: you were holding yourself back, which I think is something
Speaker 1: like we create this story in our heads of and
Speaker 1: we project of like what other people are thinking, and
Speaker 1: you're doing this for other people and all that sort
Speaker 1: of thing. But I love what you said about it's
Speaker 1: actually a complete boundary that we'd put on ourselves totally.
Speaker 3: I've thought about that even more recently. You know, it's
Speaker 3: like you have a pimple on your face and you
Speaker 3: just think it is this like balloon hanging off your face,
Speaker 3: and so you even say it, like you go have
Speaker 3: coffee with a friend, You're like, oh my god, this
Speaker 3: pimple on my face, and they're like, oh my god,
Speaker 3: I didn't even see it, you know, And it's like
Speaker 3: we make out we're so aware, we're almost too aware
Speaker 3: of ourselves that we kind of get in our own way.
Speaker 3: And I find I've actually recently done the same thing
Speaker 3: with my healing process. I've been having issues with my
Speaker 3: leg as I mentioned it at the beginning, and I
Speaker 3: realized that the story I've been telling myself is like,
Speaker 3: regardless of the issue that I'm having, it's there. It's
Speaker 3: a physical way know what's happening. But I've been making
Speaker 3: it worse because I've been telling everyone all day long
Speaker 3: on my social media, I talk about it, I talk
Speaker 3: to specialists about it. I've gotten in a negative state
Speaker 3: of mind about it. So I've decided to strip back
Speaker 3: and I only do the odd update here and they're
Speaker 3: on social media about it now. Because I realized I
Speaker 3: was kind of living more in the state of negativity
Speaker 3: than I wanted to, which is, you know, it doesn't
Speaker 3: help your body or your mind. So I think it's
Speaker 3: hugely important to notice how we're speaking to ourselves and
Speaker 3: kind of try to change that narrative a little bit.
Speaker 1: I love that I resonated recently, and obviously this is
Speaker 1: on a completely different scale. But I've always gotten coalsals
Speaker 1: growing up, and I get like two to three a month,
Speaker 1: just because they come out with the sun and stress
Speaker 1: and it's summer at the moment and.
Speaker 2: I'm pretty stressed.
Speaker 1: And previously, you know, like I wouldn't film youtubes, I
Speaker 1: wouldn't take photos. I remember when I worked corporate, I
Speaker 1: would wear like scarf so I could kind of like
Speaker 1: hide my face and I would let you know this
Speaker 1: Coulso this saw on my lip completely control my mood
Speaker 1: and how I felt and my confidence for the day.
Speaker 1: And then I remember one day I got on social
Speaker 1: media and I was talking about it and I was
Speaker 1: just like, look, I know we all get coal saws.
Speaker 1: It's just it's just saw on my lip. Like I
Speaker 1: just I don't care anymore. Like I'm so sick of
Speaker 1: hiding and feeling like crap, and so I just literally
Speaker 1: one day I just decided. I was like, I'm not
Speaker 1: going to live in the state of letting me control
Speaker 1: my mood and all that sort of stuff. And since
Speaker 1: then and kind of just making that decision, like when
Speaker 1: I get a callser I'm like, okay, cool, Like it's
Speaker 1: not like I love it, but it's all like it's all.
Speaker 3: Good and tell you like just touch on the most
Speaker 3: important point that I also believe, and it's like, you know,
Speaker 3: I also get a little bit stoked with the body
Speaker 3: image movement at times, or the body positivity movement, because
Speaker 3: it's kind of turned into this like take a photo
Speaker 3: of us in the mirror with all of our stomach
Speaker 3: rolls or our cellulate or whatever it is, and I
Speaker 3: think that's great. I think we should be celebrating our
Speaker 3: bodies and helping others know that we all live in
Speaker 3: different bodies. But at the same time, I think we're
Speaker 3: still regardless focusing on our bodies. And it's like I
Speaker 3: don't look in the mirror with my leg off and
Speaker 3: take a photo. Or I do take a photo, but
Speaker 3: I don't look in the mirror and I don't go, oh,
Speaker 3: that is the sexiest or the coolest leg I've ever seen.
Speaker 3: I don't have to feed it this like cheesy positive message,
Speaker 3: but I have to live in that body. And I
Speaker 3: think that's what's really important, you know. I just I
Speaker 3: don't have to love it, but I don't have to
Speaker 3: stop myself from living because of it, you know. And
Speaker 3: I think that's really important. I don't think we have
Speaker 3: to look at our cellulight and go, oh, that's the
Speaker 3: coolest cellu light I've ever seen, you know, But just
Speaker 3: don't stop yourself living your life because of it. Just
Speaker 3: put on the shorts, get out of the house, and like,
Speaker 3: know that your body's so much more important than how
Speaker 3: it looks.
Speaker 1: One hundred percent. You just hit the nail on the
Speaker 1: head and it is. It's like you don't have to
Speaker 1: love it, but just be okay with it and leave
Speaker 1: it as that and move on. Because and I think
Speaker 1: it's also previously the reason why I was very consumed
Speaker 1: is previously I was very consumed with looks, like it
Speaker 1: was a big parity in my life. Whereas now my
Speaker 1: looks isn't a parody in my life. It's very much
Speaker 1: down the line a bit, so it just doesn't affect
Speaker 1: me as much. So one hundred percent like taking almost
Speaker 1: just the emphasis of even looks in general and not
Speaker 1: having to love it, but just being like, okay, it's there,
Speaker 1: all good, totally agree, Okay, amazing.
Speaker 2: We just went off in a tangent.
Speaker 3: Then I love a Tangents are great where the good
Speaker 3: stuff is exactly.
Speaker 1: So let's move on and let's talk about your modeling.
Speaker 2: CreERT.
Speaker 1: So you're actually a fashion graduate, which is really cool,
Speaker 1: and now you're a model. So tell us why did
Speaker 1: you want to get into fashion and how did you
Speaker 1: get into modeling?
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I actually forget I went to UNI. It
Speaker 3: seems like so long ago. My whole life ever since
Speaker 3: kind of being second stuff I became. I was always
Speaker 3: really creative and so at school I studied photography and
Speaker 3: art and fashion, but fashion was the one thing that
Speaker 3: kind of always stuck with me, and I wanted to
Speaker 3: be a designer and all that kind of stuff. So
Speaker 3: I went to UNI. I did three years of fashion design,
Speaker 3: then I did my post grad and fashion and product design.
Speaker 3: I actually ended up it was I won't get too
Speaker 3: much into it because we'll probably take up the whole podcast,
Speaker 3: but it was kind of a huge part of my
Speaker 3: discovery of really coming into my body and being confident
Speaker 3: in my body. I remember we had to do a
Speaker 3: thesis in our last year of UNI before postgrad, and
Speaker 3: we could write on anything we wanted. So I decided
Speaker 3: to write on the idea of prosthetics and fashion and
Speaker 3: how prosthetics are kind of the space for people who
Speaker 3: don't have a limb that they actually have the ability
Speaker 3: to fill with whatever they want. It could be a
Speaker 3: piece of art, it can be anything. You know, ideally
Speaker 3: it's something that walks okay, but it's something you know,
Speaker 3: I could draw and I can do anything I want.
Speaker 3: And so I did this piece on that, and I
Speaker 3: remember for my study I had to bring in one
Speaker 3: of my prosthetics instead it on my desk, and that
Speaker 3: was the most daunting thing of my life to walk
Speaker 3: down the street holding a prosthetic leg, because at that
Speaker 3: time they was still reasonably self conscious about it, but
Speaker 3: I did it, and that was kind of the beginning
Speaker 3: of me Like now I just carry my legs around
Speaker 3: like this, I walk up to it. I would arrive
Speaker 3: at a fotosure it with two legs in my hand
Speaker 3: because it's just my life. Like it's just been quite
Speaker 3: cool to see that process. But UNI was definitely a
Speaker 3: huge self discovery in that sense. But yeah, fashion, I
Speaker 3: even left UNI, I had done fashion prosthetics for my
Speaker 3: post grad I was going to kind of launch that
Speaker 3: into a business. But still in the back of my mind,
Speaker 3: I was like, no, you went, do you need to
Speaker 3: do fashion? You're going to make a collection? You know
Speaker 3: how you get stuck in that kind of thought process
Speaker 3: that you have to do what you studied at UNI
Speaker 3: and what you've always wanted to do your whole life.
Speaker 3: And then I was working in the field in fashion
Speaker 3: and product for about two years and within that time
Speaker 3: I got a running blade prosthetic, which is like like
Speaker 3: what the Paralympians would run in. And being deep down,
Speaker 3: I've always been the active person that I was born
Speaker 3: with as but I just kind of unfortunately got put
Speaker 3: in a body later on that couldn't move in the
Speaker 3: way that I wanted to be able to move on
Speaker 3: the inside, and I fell in love with the gym.
Speaker 3: I tried so many team sports, but I was always
Speaker 3: just held back, and I fell in love with the
Speaker 3: gym because it was a place where I could compete
Speaker 3: with myself and I could work on my abilities and
Speaker 3: be able to find things that I could do instead
Speaker 3: of constantly being showing things that I can't do. And
Speaker 3: the only thing that was missing after all of that
Speaker 3: was running. So I got this running blade and attempted
Speaker 3: to run. And that's a whole nother story in itself,
Speaker 3: but that running blade was a whole nother process in
Speaker 3: my confidence because I'd become confident in the leg that
Speaker 3: I have. But if you've seen my social media, it
Speaker 3: looks much like a leg. Therefore it wasn't as confronting
Speaker 3: as the blade as it looks nothing like a leg.
Speaker 3: It's a carbon fiber tick. So putting that alcohol it is,
Speaker 3: it's so cool. I'm like, kind of I felt bad
Speaker 3: for people that don't get to wear one because they're
Speaker 3: so cool. So while I was learning to run in
Speaker 3: that leg, I realized how Court was and a friend
Speaker 3: of mine, he's a photographer and my girlfriend at the
Speaker 3: time worked in IKE, so she gave me some clothes
Speaker 3: and I was like, I couldn't do a photo shirt.
Speaker 3: I had this kind of half idea that it would
Speaker 3: be kind of cool to get a modeling agency because
Speaker 3: I it was really sad that young people were still
Speaker 3: growing up in a world where this perfection was everywhere.
Speaker 3: This was about three years ago and the body image
Speaker 3: movement wasn't as big as it is now, and I
Speaker 3: just had the stream. I was like, I want a
Speaker 3: kid walking to school to see someone like myself on
Speaker 3: a billboard, and they might not even have one leg,
Speaker 3: but it might make them feel better about whatever their
Speaker 3: insecurity was. So I thought, we'll do a photo shirt
Speaker 3: ate for fun, and maybe I'll send them to an
Speaker 3: agency and see if anyone wanted to sign me. And
Speaker 3: I put them on the photos on my Instagram. When
Speaker 3: they came back, I think I had just under a
Speaker 3: thousand followers at the time. It was just like friends
Speaker 3: and family. I posted purchase of my dog and web
Speaker 3: filters on my photos. Knew nothing about social media and
Speaker 3: had zero plans and doing anything with it, and then
Speaker 3: within about a week the photo went completely viral and
Speaker 3: I got about ten thousand followers of a Night and
Speaker 3: then I think about seventy thousand within three months and
Speaker 3: ended up leaving my job and kind of I was
Speaker 3: kind of making enough as an influence, if you like,
Speaker 3: keep the world it. So I was like, I'm going
Speaker 3: to give this a shot. And I'd kind of thought
Speaker 3: nothing about the modeling thing, and they just moved on
Speaker 3: with life. And life got pretty crazy in those two years,
Speaker 3: with the opportunities I got and the way my following
Speaker 3: kept growing and the way my story was resonating with
Speaker 3: people around the world. And then I had a modeling
Speaker 3: agency slide into my DMS Natural Models in LA and
Speaker 3: I kind of thought it was a bit of a
Speaker 3: you know, you always get those spam emails of people
Speaker 3: wanting you to join their agency, and I thought it
Speaker 3: was another one of those, And then I looked into
Speaker 3: them and they jumped on a call and I realized
Speaker 3: the owner was Katie Wilcox, who's an incredible plus as model.
Speaker 3: She's an amazing woman who I'd already looked up to.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I got signed to them. So it was
Speaker 3: quite funny now being on the other side of the industry.
Speaker 3: So I dabbled in a little bit of modeling and
Speaker 3: then now that my visa has come through and doing
Speaker 3: a lot more modeling. I've walked New Zealand Fashion Week.
Speaker 3: I've walked Melbourne Fashion Week last year, which was a
Speaker 3: massive moment for me. I just did the latest Bras
Speaker 3: and Things campaigns, so myself and a couple of other
Speaker 3: incredible models in our underwear all over the malls in
Speaker 3: Australia and New Zealand, which is quite daunting. But yeah,
Speaker 3: it's been a massive process and I've learned so much
Speaker 3: through it. I'm still trying to juggle both my life
Speaker 3: as a speaker, an influencer and a brand ambassador, as
Speaker 3: well as the modeling. But yeah, it all kind of
Speaker 3: goes hand in hand, which is really cool.
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Speaker 2: It just all seems like it was meant to be.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's exactly how it feels.
Speaker 2: It's kind of amazing.
Speaker 1: So let's talk more about the industry, because I feel
Speaker 1: like sometimes my view it can be almost a bit
Speaker 1: warped because I am way more on social media rather
Speaker 1: than mainstream or I guess you know, of course I
Speaker 1: watched Netflix, but in regards to sort of the mainstream media,
Speaker 1: and I feel like social media can be sometimes a
Speaker 1: bit of a shit place, but then it can also
Speaker 1: be this amazing place where you do see a lot
Speaker 1: of diversity. And I feel like that did happen on
Speaker 1: social media a lot first, which is awesome. But let's
Speaker 1: chat about the industry regarding our photo shoots and retouching
Speaker 1: images and showing diverse bodies. And I know, I know
Speaker 1: things are changing and things are getting better, but what
Speaker 1: are your thoughts and do you still think there's a
Speaker 1: long way to go or yeah, let's talk about that.
Speaker 3: I do think there's a long way to go. I
Speaker 3: do think we've come a long way. It's also hard
Speaker 3: for me because, like you, I am also skewed because
Speaker 3: I most the photo shoots I get put forward for
Speaker 3: are because people know the message I and by therefore
Speaker 3: they're people who are less likely or I mean, I
Speaker 3: don't do a photoshoot unless they're not going to photoshop me.
Speaker 3: But still they're the people who are already celebrating their
Speaker 3: body image movement because that's why they've hired me. Because
Speaker 3: I have one leg, you know, it's quite obvious, so
Speaker 3: I'm not as exposed as another model, I guess, but
Speaker 3: I'm also very woke to it. If you like it,
Speaker 3: so I noticed it straight away, which is where my
Speaker 3: ted talk came from. I had an image of my photoshot.
Speaker 3: So I did Dancing with the Stars in New Zealand
Speaker 3: about eighteen months ago, and after doing that, I did
Speaker 3: a photo shoot with a woman's magazine, kind of talking
Speaker 3: about my story and all of that kind of stuff.
Speaker 3: And we did a shoot and I was wearing active
Speaker 3: wear and it got printed in the magazine and I
Speaker 3: was like, cool girl, you look great. Didn't really think
Speaker 3: much of it. Obviously, the lighting had been, you know, ant,
Speaker 3: which is totally normal. I understand that. And then I
Speaker 3: asked for the images for my visa application and they
Speaker 3: weirdly sent me two folders. One was the images that
Speaker 3: I'd seen in the magazine and one was another folder
Speaker 3: that said unedited. And I felt like I was opening
Speaker 3: like a secret volt or something. I was like, water
Speaker 3: us in here. And turns out I'd been largely photoshoped,
Speaker 3: and I was like, damn, I don't look as good
Speaker 3: as I thought I did. But no, I actually take
Speaker 3: that back. I still looked at those images, and this
Speaker 3: is the biggest problem with it was I had actually
Speaker 3: gone to that shirt that day feeling great. I'd just
Speaker 3: done three months dancing on TV. I was feeling really
Speaker 3: good about myself. Yet someone still felt the need to
Speaker 3: photoshop me, to change my body and to point out
Speaker 3: insecurity as I didn't even know I had like they
Speaker 3: would remove. They removed half of my moles, but not
Speaker 3: all of them. It's like you can have some sunspots,
Speaker 3: but you've got a little bit too many girls, Like,
Speaker 3: let's just tone it back a little bit and just
Speaker 3: kind of taking control in that way. And my skin
Speaker 3: was perfectly smooth. My active web did not budge into
Speaker 3: my skin at all. I had flush skin, which I
Speaker 3: think if you have zero percent body fat is still impossible.
Speaker 3: So I just yeah, it kind of stirred something in me,
Speaker 3: and I sat on it for a while, and then
Speaker 3: some got put through the grapevine and some media reached
Speaker 3: out to me. And I wasn't going to take it
Speaker 3: to the media, but I ended up doing that and
Speaker 3: it started a massive conversation. Then I decided to run
Speaker 3: a petition to get the rules that ideally get a
Speaker 3: law in and around photoshopping that it had to be
Speaker 3: disclosed if a model was photoshopped, much like we have
Speaker 3: warnings on a cigarette packet because I believe that it's
Speaker 3: hugely detrimental to the mental health of humans. And yeah,
Speaker 3: we got over ten dozand signatures and I'm just going
Speaker 3: through the process now of where to take that. But
Speaker 3: so that's been kind of a long time. So within
Speaker 3: those two years, I've seen a lot of changes because
Speaker 3: a lot of people are starting to speak up about
Speaker 3: it now within the industry. So a lot of brands.
Speaker 3: You know, when I work with a brand, I say, hey,
Speaker 3: just to let you know, like, I'm not going to
Speaker 3: work with you if you're going to photoshop my images,
Speaker 3: and a lot of people, Bras and things is a
Speaker 3: good example, came back and I kind of wrongly just
Speaker 3: assumed that they photoshopped the images before I signed onto
Speaker 3: the camp and they came back and we're like, oh no,
Speaker 3: we don't use photoshop. We only kind of just lighting
Speaker 3: we needed, or change the color of a garment if
Speaker 3: it doesn't perfectly match what it should be, et cetera,
Speaker 3: et cetera. So that's been really awesome to see that
Speaker 3: some people are already taking that initiative within themselves to
Speaker 3: show people exactly as they are. And then there's kind
Speaker 3: of the other end I still get DMS from people
Speaker 3: like women who have got their wedding photos back and
Speaker 3: they've been completely photoshopped, and they're like, I don't know
Speaker 3: what to do, Like what do I say? And I'm like,
Speaker 3: oh my goodness. So it goes a lot further than
Speaker 3: we think, because you know, that's just someone's wedding photos.
Speaker 3: They don't retouch those. But yeah, I mean retouching is
Speaker 3: only one part of it. I think we're still in
Speaker 3: a place where we're still demanding diversity. But I think
Speaker 3: that's the best thing we can do. Like it's up
Speaker 3: to the consumer to demand it, and you can demand
Speaker 3: it by supporting the brands that you know live or
Speaker 3: I guess portray the message how you want it to
Speaker 3: be portrayed.
Speaker 1: So why do you think it's so important to show
Speaker 1: body diversity? And I know in your TED talk you
Speaker 1: said when I say body diversity, I just mean real bodies,
Speaker 1: which I loved. So why do you think it's important
Speaker 1: in modeling? And also, what advice would you give people
Speaker 1: so they can start making sure that whether it's social
Speaker 1: media or mainstream media, what they consume better portrays real bodies.
Speaker 1: If you have that sort of advice, sorry, stuck one.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's usually important. Kind of the whole reason
Speaker 3: I got into this was because they wanted people to
Speaker 3: grow up, not like I grow up. They wanted them
Speaker 3: to grow up seeing real bodies so that they can
Speaker 3: feel better about themselves. They remember when the body image
Speaker 3: movement was starting to unravel through campaigns and through social media,
Speaker 3: and people just started to feel better. They were like, oh,
Speaker 3: she has cellulate too, Like oh, even the Victoria Secret
Speaker 3: models have cellulate, or you know, when her body moves,
Speaker 3: it does move, you know, And I think it just
Speaker 3: it normalizes everything. I think we don't even know how
Speaker 3: much the effect everything has had on us. It's you know,
Speaker 3: in May talk talk about how most of the I
Speaker 3: think it's something like eight percent of a campaign's message
Speaker 3: makes its way to our conscious brain, and the rest
Speaker 3: we rework in our brains. So we're seeing a campaign
Speaker 3: and where they're going up. That didn't affect me. I
Speaker 3: didn't care that her stomach was dead flat, or she
Speaker 3: had a sick back or whatever it was. But we
Speaker 3: don't actually know that we are reworking that and then
Speaker 3: comparing ourselves to that deep in our brain. And so
Speaker 3: it's just having a massive effect. And I think we've
Speaker 3: got into a place, especially as woman, where we've always
Speaker 3: been put in this light where we have to be perfect.
Speaker 3: And all the photo shirts of women as they're happy
Speaker 3: and they're smelling and their life is perfect while they're
Speaker 3: vacuuming the floor, and you know what I mean, It's
Speaker 3: always been like that, and I think that's why women
Speaker 3: are so stuck in this place where appearance has become
Speaker 3: what's important. And I think women should have the opportunity
Speaker 3: to do whatever they want in their life. And if
Speaker 3: they're constantly growing up being focused on on the way
Speaker 3: they look or thinking that that's what's important, then they're
Speaker 3: never going to reach their short of potential. So I
Speaker 3: wanted to break that down and just the simple fact
Speaker 3: of I spent eight years not wearing shorts because I
Speaker 3: was afraid of what people would would think of me,
Speaker 3: and I was afraid of comparing. I have compared myself
Speaker 3: to others, which made me afraid of that. Whereas if
Speaker 3: a young girl, you know, I posted something on my
Speaker 3: Instagram yesterday and a young girl had compared herself to
Speaker 3: me in the way that I loved that she compared
Speaker 3: herself to me because she knew that her ownsecurities were
Speaker 3: okay as well. And that's the effect that I'm hoping
Speaker 3: this movement has is that people can look at all
Speaker 3: different types of bodies and that woman of all colors,
Speaker 3: all sizes or shapes, all abilities are represented in the
Speaker 3: media so that young people can grow up and somewhat
Speaker 3: see themselves out there in the world.
Speaker 2: I love that.
Speaker 1: So what advice would you give someone so real bodies
Speaker 1: are better portrayed in the media they consume? Because I
Speaker 1: personally always say, constantly be checking the people you follow,
Speaker 1: and if they're making you feel like crap or you're
Speaker 1: constantly comparing yourself, like mute them or unfollow them. Do
Speaker 1: you have any advice similar to that?
Speaker 3: I've got kind of two answers for this, one kind
Speaker 3: of more mainstream and one more social media base. I
Speaker 3: think we forget that there's an unfollowed button, Like if
Speaker 3: I lose followers, I'm like, go ahead, unfollow me, that's fine,
Speaker 3: Like don't I don't want someone following me who doesn't
Speaker 3: connect with my message and I don't I don't want
Speaker 3: to be consuming stuff And it could be a friend,
Speaker 3: probably not a close friend. Maybe don't unfollow a close friend,
Speaker 3: but you could mute them. But you know, I think
Speaker 3: if someone's not filling your cup up in the way
Speaker 3: that you want it to be filled, or it's not
Speaker 3: making you feel good, or you're finding yourself thinking negatively
Speaker 3: after you've been on social media, unfollow people. I do
Speaker 3: mass unfollows every now and again, so I go through
Speaker 3: everyone I'm following and I just get rid of people
Speaker 3: because sometimes we forget who's actually popping up all of
Speaker 3: the time. So if things aren't making you feel good,
Speaker 3: and also kind of a look like I Also, social
Speaker 3: media has been really scary, and I learn a lot
Speaker 3: of this through the research I did in an around
Speaker 3: my petition, because it's one thing to change this in
Speaker 3: a mainstrea level, because that's really easy, reasonably easy to
Speaker 3: change mainstream media, But to change the rules and image
Speaker 3: and social media, because we don't have control over what
Speaker 3: someone does, it's scary and I think it's almost having
Speaker 3: a worse effect because someone's face tuning a photo of
Speaker 3: them sitting at a cafe having a coffee with their girlfriends,
Speaker 3: and we just assume that that's everyday life, that they
Speaker 3: look like that in everyday life, but they've chosen to
Speaker 3: sit on their best angle. They've whitened their teeth, they've
Speaker 3: I don't know, filter in the little bald patch and
Speaker 3: their ponytail whatever it is like, it's I don't know
Speaker 3: where that came from, but you know it's like this
Speaker 3: we think it's it's even like these filters and stories
Speaker 3: like that make you look somewhat perfect. I weirdly look
Speaker 3: uglier and those filters so they don't work for me,
Speaker 3: but you know, you kind of forget that that's not
Speaker 3: how people look. People don't have skin that's perfectly poor free,
Speaker 3: Everyone has pause, it's normal. So I think just yeah,
Speaker 3: noticing those things is really important. And if you still
Speaker 3: like following that person, follow them, but notice that their
Speaker 3: skin looks like that because of this, you know, And
Speaker 3: then in a mainstream level, I think it's supporting the
Speaker 3: brands that are making the changes that you want to see.
Speaker 3: So perfect example is Victoria Secrets. They're no longer doing
Speaker 3: what they're doing because people stop supporting them. People weren't
Speaker 3: agreeing with their messages. Their views in the Victoria's Secrets
Speaker 3: show plumited because people didn't want to support that anymore.
Speaker 3: Whereas brands like Ari, which is an American brand has
Speaker 3: skyrocketed because they're not retouching their images and they're doing
Speaker 3: things that the consumer want to see. So support those brands,
Speaker 3: buy from those brands, and yeah, support the people who
Speaker 3: are living that message. I think is the best way
Speaker 3: that we can kind of keep creating change.
Speaker 1: Couldn't agree more. Thank you for that, Jas, And before
Speaker 1: we move on to something a little bit different, one
Speaker 1: last question. And I'm sure as much as you were
Speaker 1: in a completely different place than when you're younger, and
Speaker 1: that's amazing, but I'm sure that you would also sometimes
Speaker 1: fall in to this comparison trap like it could lead
Speaker 1: to be a couple of seconds. What is something that
Speaker 1: you do for yourself when that happens.
Speaker 3: I have personally a hundred percent degree, and I try
Speaker 3: put that out there because I mean, I get called
Speaker 3: a body imajectivist and all of this kind of stuff,
Speaker 3: body positivity activists and.
Speaker 1: All of that.
Speaker 3: I have just as many bad days as everyone else.
Speaker 3: I guess I've through the work I've done, I've developed tools,
Speaker 3: and I think what I went through as a kid
Speaker 3: forced me to go through that a lot younger, so
Speaker 3: I have the tools a lot earlier, which is what
Speaker 3: I'm really grateful for but by no means is every
Speaker 3: day a good day, especially with my prosthetics. You know,
Speaker 3: I have issues with my Like the minute my body changes,
Speaker 3: I notice because my leg doesn't grow. So therefore, if
Speaker 3: I my leg gets muscly or I put on wait
Speaker 3: or whatever, it is one of my sides, like my
Speaker 3: prosthetic is going to be smaller or vice versa. So
Speaker 3: it's really easy for me to start comparing myself, even
Speaker 3: to myself, because I notice it. But I've just learned
Speaker 3: to just let it go, like to know that, Okay,
Speaker 3: today is a bad day, probably about to get my period.
Speaker 3: That's why I'm extra grumpy, you know, And I just
Speaker 3: learned that. Okay, as you said at the beginning, it's
Speaker 3: a season that I'm in right now. I'm just not
Speaker 3: feeling the best. But in those moments, I just try
Speaker 3: and I don't look in the mirror. I don't spend
Speaker 3: time focusing on that. I try to distract myself and
Speaker 3: like I'll go to the gym and I'll do something
Speaker 3: to remind myself that what's important is what I'm able
Speaker 3: to do in my body, not the way that I look.
Speaker 3: Like sure, my thigh right now is the size of
Speaker 3: when I was sixteen, because I haven't been able to
Speaker 3: remold it. But I can go to the gym, I
Speaker 3: can do all of these things. So it gives it
Speaker 3: a shit that might sorry I just for who cares
Speaker 3: that my thigh isn't the right size. So I think
Speaker 3: it's learning to catch yourselves in those moments and also
Speaker 3: knowing that it's okay to have those moments. We're human,
Speaker 3: all of us. We are going to have moments where
Speaker 3: we compare, but just I guess trying to step back
Speaker 3: and see the bigger picture and all of that.
Speaker 1: And that's something that you do beautifully on Instagram is
Speaker 1: you are so inspiring on Instagram and so motivating, and
Speaker 1: like you said, you're a body activist and all these
Speaker 1: amazing things. But something you do talk about a lot,
Speaker 1: which I love, is you're very real when you are
Speaker 1: having a bad day. And I remember reading a caption
Speaker 1: and you were just explaining that and I think it's
Speaker 1: this a hard season that you're currently in that you
Speaker 1: are having issues, and you said at the end, I
Speaker 1: know it's just a season. I know it will pass,
Speaker 1: and it certainly hasn't been easy, and so I want
Speaker 1: to chat about why you think it's quite important to
Speaker 1: acknowledge these bad days and be okay with it. Can
Speaker 1: you go into that a little bit more and if
Speaker 1: that's been a part of.
Speaker 3: Your journey hugely a part of my journey, and I
Speaker 3: have probably multiple answers, but one thing, as you can see,
Speaker 3: I like to chat one thing then me is I mean,
Speaker 3: I grew up being Oh, you're so inspiring, Oh you're
Speaker 3: so this, even before social media, you know, as a kid,
Speaker 3: adults would be like, Oh, you're so brave, you're so strong,
Speaker 3: You're so this than that because I did, I naturally
Speaker 3: have I don't care if the glass is half empty
Speaker 3: or half fall. I have water in my cup. That's
Speaker 3: always been the way that I look at life. And
Speaker 3: I think that that was in me before I went
Speaker 3: through what I went through, because I think my parents
Speaker 3: are just really positive people, so that's naturally the way
Speaker 3: I look at life. But also obviously what I went
Speaker 3: through strength and that even more. I mean, I faced
Speaker 3: a life or death situation when I was nine, Like,
Speaker 3: obviously that's going to change my perspective on life. But
Speaker 3: it also was hard because I lived in the state
Speaker 3: of Oh I'm strong. I have to be strong. People
Speaker 3: love it when I'm strong. I'm positive all the time
Speaker 3: kind of state for so long that it wasn't until
Speaker 3: my recent major hiccup than life the day or season,
Speaker 3: that I realized that it's actually okay to not be strong.
Speaker 3: Like it doesn't mean you're a weak person. It means
Speaker 3: that you're going through a season of time where maybe
Speaker 3: you need to ask for help, or you need to
Speaker 3: reach out to someone, or you need to just find
Speaker 3: some slow in your life. So that process in itself
Speaker 3: was really important for me, and I think I don't
Speaker 3: think that people who follow me realize how much they
Speaker 3: actually helped me through that, because you know, they helped
Speaker 3: me have a platform where I could just be myself,
Speaker 3: which was really cool. So that in itself has been
Speaker 3: a learning and a process, and I've become better at
Speaker 3: just sitting and not being okay, and I think that's important.
Speaker 3: And then the reason I like to put it out
Speaker 3: in the world is because we all know and social
Speaker 3: media is constantly criticized for projecting this perfect life this
Speaker 3: I live, this is my perfect morning routine and all
Speaker 3: this kind of stuff, and I like to show people that,
Speaker 3: like the days are really crap sometimes, and it could
Speaker 3: be something as small as your boss, one thing to
Speaker 3: you that can throw you over the edge. But it
Speaker 3: really scares me that someone out there could be really
Speaker 3: struggling with their mental health and they could have a
Speaker 3: day where they just don't know if they can hold
Speaker 3: it together, and then they see someone like myself and
Speaker 3: they're like, Oh, she's having a perfect day though, when
Speaker 3: in reality I'm probably not. And the reality of social media,
Speaker 3: even for someone like myself who puts out a very
Speaker 3: raw content, I share my bad days, I share my
Speaker 3: good days. I'm still only sharing five percent of my
Speaker 3: life because I don't have a camera follow me around
Speaker 3: all the time. I might jump on stories twice a day,
Speaker 3: so you're seeing the smallert snippet of my life. So
Speaker 3: I wanted to make sure people knew that as well
Speaker 3: as the good days I have, there is also bad days,
Speaker 3: and I think it just kind of normalizes the experience
Speaker 3: of life that we all go through, you know. So yeah,
Speaker 3: I think it's important to be raw. I don't think everyone.
Speaker 3: I think there's also a movement at the moment where
Speaker 3: everyone thinks they have to tell their deepest, darkest stories
Speaker 3: because to kind of click baity these days. But too,
Speaker 3: I don't feel like people you don't have to do
Speaker 3: that if it isn't what feels right to you. But
Speaker 3: I think just knowing that there are people out there,
Speaker 3: I guess watching your evory move, so it's really important
Speaker 3: to inspire them in a way that they can I
Speaker 3: guess resonate with maybe.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I love the fact that I feel like you are
Speaker 1: very conscious about being considerate and kind to yourself, because,
Speaker 1: like you said, we can often get stuck in this
Speaker 1: pattern where it's like I'm not having the perfect day,
Speaker 1: and then it's almost like you can get upset at
Speaker 1: yourself because you're upset. That makes sense, you know, it
Speaker 1: feels yeah, and you're like, I love what you said.
Speaker 1: It's almost just being like kind and considerate to yourself.
Speaker 1: And it's also like, we need these bad days, and
Speaker 1: I'm doing air quotes. You can't say me, we need
Speaker 1: days in these hard days, because it's definitely what makes
Speaker 1: you grateful and realize when you do have a good
Speaker 1: day and you are feeling your best.
Speaker 2: But it is.
Speaker 1: Definitely okay to have those days and not to feel
Speaker 1: good and perfect one hundred percent of the time.
Speaker 3: Totally I fully, I couldn't agree more. And I think
Speaker 3: and I've learned a lot of this in the last
Speaker 3: kind of year to eighteen months when I've been having
Speaker 3: a rough time again, and I think that's the reason
Speaker 3: I've gone through what I went through, so that I
Speaker 3: could learn all of this. So it's been hugely important.
Speaker 3: And also knowing that even something like healing doesn't always
Speaker 3: look pretty, you know, Like I think we watch videos
Speaker 3: and it's like, these are my five steps, so feel
Speaker 3: better in my day, you know what it's like. It's
Speaker 3: like sometimes like for me, like I did this post
Speaker 3: and I learned I heard I try everything because I'm
Speaker 3: trying to faxt my body at the moment. And I
Speaker 3: heard that cabbage was really good for swelling. People put
Speaker 3: it on their breasts when their breastfeeding to get the
Speaker 3: swelling down. So I wrapped it on my amputation and
Speaker 3: put glad wrap around and took a photo and I
Speaker 3: was like, this is what healing. What it's like healing
Speaker 3: is trying the weird, whacky stuff that you see on
Speaker 3: the internet and hoping it works. It's not always meditation
Speaker 3: and yoga, you know. So I think that's also really
Speaker 3: important to share with people.
Speaker 1: I love that you are so funny. And on a
Speaker 1: question that I know you're going to answer so so well,
Speaker 1: what advice do you have for listeners who are listening
Speaker 1: to this and they don't feel enough?
Speaker 3: I guess, I mean, I hope this isn't do some books,
Speaker 3: but just know that you are. You know, if we
Speaker 3: are all enough, and the stress that we cause on
Speaker 3: ourselves just trying to be enough when we are already
Speaker 3: enough is going to make us feel even worse. You know,
Speaker 3: it's really important to try step into your own in
Speaker 3: that way and just know that you are enough and
Speaker 3: know that maybe the reason you aren't feeling enough is
Speaker 3: because you're comparing yourself. And then I guess it's understanding
Speaker 3: that process that the person you're comparing themselves to is
Speaker 3: also comparing themselves to someone else. So yeah, I honestly
Speaker 3: I know that it's so simple, but I just, I mean,
Speaker 3: my worsh in life is to just know that. Its like,
Speaker 3: have everyone know that they are enough because we all are.
Speaker 2: One hundred percent. Oh, I love that. I know that
Speaker 2: was perfect.
Speaker 1: And lastly, Jess, a question that I want to finish
Speaker 1: off the interview is what do you do or look
Speaker 1: for when you're needing motivation or inspiration yourself.
Speaker 3: I guess it depends on the situation. If I'm needing
Speaker 3: motivation to go to the gym, I don't actually know
Speaker 3: how I do that sometimes, deny that's good. I like it.
Speaker 3: I mean, I've really learned recently to slow down so
Speaker 3: when I'm feeling a lack of motivation, like the mom
Speaker 3: when I don't think I've been to the gym for
Speaker 3: a week, which was quite surprising for me. But I'm
Speaker 3: kind of just in that and then I know that
Speaker 3: I will get out instead of being like I've got
Speaker 3: to go to the gym today, you know, just like
Speaker 3: trying to listen to my body. I find that really motivating,
Speaker 3: which is probably really cheesy, but I find that really helpful,
Speaker 3: you know. And also I don't know, I just have
Speaker 3: like a get up and get over it kind of editude.
Speaker 2: I have second ruler.
Speaker 3: Five second roll to I love the five second role.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I don't I don't actually know. It definitely
Speaker 3: depends on the situation. I mean, I have amazing people
Speaker 3: that I follow and all that kind of stuff, but
Speaker 3: I've also tried to learn to look within instead of
Speaker 3: outside for that kind of motivation sometimes as lame and
Speaker 3: cheesy as it is. If I'm in a really bad place,
Speaker 3: I look back on old photos from when I was sick,
Speaker 3: and I share them every now and again all my stories,
Speaker 3: and I think people are starting to notice, like, okay,
Speaker 3: dress isn't a bit of a low wash just litter sittle,
Speaker 3: you know, because I kind of go through the sad
Speaker 3: moment and then I get this like wave of motivation
Speaker 3: and everything feels better because I know that days can
Speaker 3: be worse than they are right now. So yeah, I
Speaker 3: think I would have normally answered with like a list
Speaker 3: of people, but I think in the last year I've
Speaker 3: really learned to look within for motivation instead of outside.
Speaker 3: I love that and that not that I like think
Speaker 3: I'm the best person on the planet, but it just
Speaker 3: helps me.
Speaker 1: And it's funny because similar to you, like recently I've
Speaker 1: realized going within and almost just like getting quiet and
Speaker 1: like you said, like sewing down and stopping, it's kind
Speaker 1: of like it reignites. I'm such an info too, so yeah,
Speaker 1: like I'm just like, oh, I just need to be alone.
Speaker 3: Same like I'm not the biggest fan of people in masses,
Speaker 3: like give me one person at a time. I'm good.
Speaker 1: I know I hadn't said. It's so funny. I went
Speaker 1: to gym this morning and I saw my sister in law.
Speaker 1: She lives quite close and we had seen each other
Speaker 1: all week. She's like, have you left the house this week?
Speaker 2: I know. I'm like, it's been amazing.
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, I wish I could do that. See,
Speaker 3: I have to get out, like I'm like a I
Speaker 3: can't sit stall person, but ideally I get out and
Speaker 3: they don't see humans.
Speaker 1: Agreed, love it amazing. Well, thank you so much for
Speaker 1: coming on the show, Jess. Before you go, please let
Speaker 1: the audience know where they can find and follow you.
Speaker 3: Awesome. Well, thank you for having me. I've loved I
Speaker 3: love doing podcast interviews there and especially when the questions
Speaker 3: are like really good, you know. So it's been awesome.
Speaker 3: Thank you. Where can people find me? Mostly Instagram is
Speaker 3: where I where I am, which is Jessica Emilie Quinn. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and then everything else I kind of just link from there.
Speaker 3: So yeah, Instagram.
Speaker 1: I'll make sure I put it in the show notes
Speaker 1: to you guys, see Jess, thank you so much.
Speaker 3: Bye, thank you, And that's a wrap.
Speaker 1: On another episode of the Rise and Concor podcast. I
Speaker 1: hope you got something valuable from it, and I want
Speaker 1: to say.
Speaker 2: A big thank you for tuning in.
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Speaker 2: I've got you sorted.
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Speaker 3: Your job dayDay